Meet Our Team
Sam Brandsen, Ph.D.
Sam (he/him) is an autistic parent of an autistic child. He completed his Ph.D. in physics at Duke University with a focus on quantum information theory. Towards the end of his Ph.D., he became fascinated by quality of life in autistic individuals and ended up spending almost all of his free time thinking about autism and neurodiversity.
Sam currently lives in Ontario, Canada and collaborates with several different universities and organisations on autism research and disability advocacy. Much of his work is focused on understanding how healthcare and therapy can be made more accessible to autistic individuals, especially those who may be particularly vulnerable to clinical harm or barriers to healthcare (e.g. autistic individuals who are in prison, institutionalized, uninsured/underinsured, and/or multiply marginalized.)
He is also particularly interested in how the neurodiversity movement can better address the needs and perspectives of people with intellectual disabilities as well as those with heavily stigmatised conditions such as psychosis. He takes an iterative approach to learning and believes he will probably (hopefully!) be in a continual process of updating his understanding of neurodiversity and realizing how much there is yet to learn.
Morénike Giwa Onaiwu, Ph.D.
Morénike (she/they) is a global activist-scholar, author, and community leader who is passionate about human rights, justice, and inclusion. A proactive, resourceful professional and disabled person of color in a multicultural, neurodiverse, serodifferent family, Morénike, who is American-born to immigrant parents, possesses undergraduate and graduate degrees in International Relations, Education, and Interdisciplinary Humanities.
Morénike is involved in various social justice advocacy endeavors including neurodiversity, public pedagogy, multimodal learning, anti-HIV stigma, participatory research, technology, disability justice, racial and gender equity, etc.
A prolific writer, Morénike has written for and/or been featured in numerous platforms including peer-reviewed journals, books, and digital media, often drawing from professional knowledge as well as personal experiences as a late-diagnosed Autistic/ADHD parent of Autistic and non-Autistic children, a twice exceptional person of color, and a survivor of intimate partner violence. Morénike is also involved in additional projects, including training and consulting.
Morénike has been a speaker in the White House,
at the United Nations Headquarters, and a keynote speaker and/or presenter at numerous advocacy, education, disability, and research conferences.
(biography excerpt from My Bio – Morénike Giwa Onaiwu (morenikego.com))
Jenna Meehan, M.S., OTR/L
Jenna (she/they) is an Autistic & ADHD occupational therapist and parent & partner of a neurodivergent family. Her passion is listening, learning, and brainstorming to create and support inclusive, respectful, and authentic community connections, spaces, and systems.
Jenna loves sharing her love for kids, neurodiversity, pups, chickens, home projects, sometimes gardening, and social justice advocacy. Sharing an article, infodumping, or dropping a meme about any of these things will warm their heart : )
Dr. Eiko H, Ph.D.
Eiko (she/her) is a patent agent and an aspiring lawyer. She aims to promote neurodiversity awareness in the practice of law and hopes to further inclusivity for autistic employees and clients. She enjoys spending time with family, hiking, and playing table tennis.
All Neurotypes Alumni
Janelle Fenwick, MS. CCC-SLP
Janelle (she/her) is a speech-language pathologist and autistic ally. Janelle lives by Dr. Greene’s philosophy that ‘children do well when they have the supports and resources to do so’ (this applies to adults too!). Her work revolves around the neurodivergent perspective. To guide her practice, she spends time actively listening while in neurodivergent spaces.
Janelle is a proud pug mama and spends her free time organizing (with all the labels/visuals!), crafting, teaching pilates, and trying to grow plants (tips welcome!).